Dark Reflections
by Creedog VanDrey
Summary: Book 2 of the Creedogmon's Power of Crests Trilogy. The DigiDestined return home, only to face new battles with strange enemies and to gain new allies.
1. A Week's Return

Dark Reflections: A Week's Return

by Creedogmon

edited by Godeerc VanDrey

Category: _Digimon_

Genre: General, Action/Adventure

Rating: PG (varies per chapter)

Language: English

Summery: Book 2 of the Creedogmon's Power of Crests Series. I won't give away the story, but let's just say the DigiDestined team must learn to control their powers. This starts shortly after the where last one stopped.

A/N: I'm thinking this one may be shorter than Book 1. It will be a bit formatted, but I think that the story will get a lot more complex. Just read it. By the way, read _The Powers Within_ first. You won't be lost.

* * *

Chapter 1: A Week's Return

The first thing I notice is that the sky is overcast. The second thing I notice is that I'm alone with two-year-old, golden-haired Virginia and orange-furred Katmondu. T.K. and Kari have just digiported myself, Virginia, Katmondu, and the other new DigiDestined home. Except I didn't expect to find myself alone, standing in the middle of my neighborhood on a dready Sunday afternoon in Raytonville, Georgia. For the past week, I've been stuck in the DigiWorld. Yes, I, Christopher VanDrey, am a DigiDestined, but not the typical sort. I have no digimon partner. I watch _Digimon__: Digital Monsters_, though recently with less frequency, and I would expect to get one since every DigiDestined on the show has gotten one. Instead, I was inducted with strange powers that I assume originated from my crest.

With this though, I examine my crest. It seems normal, though not glowing, but that's not completely unusual. I check my D-3 style digivice. It, too, is not glowing, but it only glows in the face of danger. Now, it merely shows the time and date: _12:49 PM_; _SUN APR 22 '01_. Sunday, April 22; that means I've been gone a week exactly, give or take a couple of hours.

I guess I'll have to make due. Luckily, before leaving the DigiWorld, we formulated a plan in advance. Seeing no good way to explain to our parents why we've been gone for the better part of a week without any contact, we chose a plan of amnesia: we don't know where we've been, or that we've been gone at all. This alibi is especially useful because we also have to explain our physical changes: the different coloration of hair and eyes, not to mention the bumps and bruises and scars we've received as a result of our battles with various evil digimon. As odd as it sounds, we're praying for paranoia, hoping our parents will come of with frightening reasons for our disappearances: kidnappings or other terrible things.

Much of the minor details were in vain. I find Katmondu, the Defender of Vigor, without his snow-white streak across his tail. Virginia's inconspicuously halo is gone. The sea blue windows peak I received is gone. The colored locks of hair on all of our heads had a different feel: heavy or light or thicker or in some way noticeably changed. But it's gone. I can induct that the others' changes have also been reversed, but I'll have to wait until I see them again, which won't be until things are straightened out. For now, I've got to put the plans into motion. 

Wanting to avoid a heart-wrenching conversation, I leave Virginia, who's fallen asleep, on her doorstep and ring the doorbell. Luckily, the Frends home is in my neighborhood. I grab my cat and hide in the bushes. I can't see the door, but I see Virginia. As the door opens, I can hear a faint weeping of Mrs. Frend, Virginia's mother. I can't feel the moisture in her eyes, a talent I acquired in the DigiWorld. The scream that follows makes me choke on my own breath. Virginia wakes up and starts crying, too. I now see Mrs. Frend run out and grab her daughter. She looks around for whoever left her daughter on the doorstep, but I lay low so that it doesn't happen. She takes the howling two-year-old and takes her inside.

Then it hits me: _She going to call my mom any minute. Time to get home. _

"Coast clear?" I ask my cat. He listens around and jumps from the bushes. I keep a close lookout for cars on my way over, but there are none. As the beautiful red brick building that is my home comes into view, emotion wells up in my chest, but I hold back tears. I have to be oblivious when I'm found. To reinforce the kidnapping alibi, I lay down on my front steps. I know there's no point in trying to get my cat to follow suit, so I let him scratch on the door. _Perfect._

I hear the phone ring and Katmondu starts to meow at the door. I slow my breath, which is hard when I hear my mother calling my father, no doubt who has gotten the message from Mrs. Frend that Virginia is home. They come to the door, no doubt getting Katmondu, and I exhale slowly as the door clock clicks. The scream that follows hurts my ears, but I don't care, because it's of the voice that I know better than any other.

: : :

The days that follow are a whirlwind. They are spent playing dumb and telling boldface lies through tears, hugs, and ringing phones.

"Samantha, it's Mike. They say Matt's home!" my dad says that afternoon on the phone, "Yeah, he's home, too. Yeah, drugged. No, not a thing. It must be the same guy." My mother sits there, listening, eyes still moist.

_Same guy_, my mind repeats. _Well, it worked._

: : :

The police say it's a hopeless case. Our bodies have no indication of any drugs in them. No abuse of any sort was found. We weren't in the best of shape, but in relatively good health. They've checked the scenes of our disappearances. I think they saw the divots from when our digivices fell from the air in the backyard, but thought nothing of them. We were all interviewed, as were friends and teachers from school. It's a conundrum. We just vanished in a large flash of light. My disappearance, like Justine's, Virginia's, and Anna's, was considered a crime of opportunity, because we were alone; or runaways, except for Virginia, who was certainly kidnapped, and the suspect was me, until now. Katmondu wasn't considered; he was a missing pet. But Matt, Daniel, Jessica, and Phillip, however, disappeared in a flash of light in front of crowds of people. Someone had to have had a reason for taking them, which escalated the theories to terrorism. That is the main thought now, and I'm glad. It's how the first digimon attack was explained.

Being interrogated by the police, or questioned really, since we're victims, gave us a chance to with each other. Like I predicted, the physical changes are gone, as are our powers. Phillip claims he spent twenty minutes sitting in front of his cats and dogs trying to feel their emotions. Justine failed a math test: no messages about the answers. The digivices don't glow anymore, just tell the time. The crests don't glow either. The auras are missing completely. Our auras don't protect us anymore. Jessica shows us her bruise from when her little brother threw a softball at her.

"Soft ball, my foot."

: : :

A bed feels good after spending a week sleeping on the ground. That night, Katmondu jumps on top of me. I pet him, glad to see that his fur doesn't leave a trail of ice. "I think it's over, Katmondu." 

Still, I don't know if this is a good thing overall. While I'm glad I'm not in danger anymore, we don't seem to have accomplished much. We did fight a few evil digimon, even the reincarnated Devimon, twice, but if the DigiWorld needed nine new DigiDestined with powers and one with a digimon, you'd think they were expected something, some terrible evil that threatened everything. The problem is, because we were separated from T.K. and Kari during the trip back, we have no access to the DigiWorld, which means, if we're needed, we'll have to be pulled back involuntarily. That is, if we are pulled back…

: : :

"Hutkins, how is it?"

"I got the medical reports right here. They're bad."

"It's the Furinentou again, isn't it? They're testing."

"Several victims."

"Dammit. How many?"

"I don't know. The police reports aren't finished yet. Five? Ten? Two dozen?"

"Okay, keep looking. This cannot get out."

: : :

A/N: Whoo. I'm beginning to enjoy this. Well, you're going to have to wait until I get the next chapter out. It should be out fairly soon. I've already written it, but it's going through major overhaul. (Thanks to Mr. Godeerc.)

(Sonriso) - You know for all the work I do, I should get paid more. Okay, okay. Something witty. Er, well, the Herald of Sarcasm will owe you two witty phrases in the subsequent chapters.


	2. Suffocation of Mist

Dark Reflections: Suffocation of Mist

by Creedogmon

edited by Godeerc VanDrey

Category: _Digimon_

Genre: General, Action/Adventure

Rating: PG-13 (It gets a little graphic)

Language: English

Summery: A week goes by without any indication of the group's powers. However, the story is yet to start unfolding.

A/N: This has nothing to do with the Digimon characters. They are my own characters, but because it's part of the Digimon World, I have to put it in this section. Later on, digimon will appear, but don't expect to get your daily dose of Tai (or Matt) (or Sora or T.K. for that matter).

* * *

Chapter 2: Suffocation of Mist

Justine and I jump out of the Reyes van onto the front schoolyard. It's been a week since our return from the DigiWorld, and, if it weren't for the digivices and crests we have, there would be no indication that we ever traveled there.

I see Daniel and Matt talking with a mutual friend of ours, James Warren, in the front schoolyard. He was the primary witness for Matt's disappearance, but he quit talking about it last week. Everyone stopped talking about it. That's the way it is in junior high, I suppose. Almost anything's old news after a week. The report on our disappearance was local news for only one night. As I approach, James seems to excuse himself and walk to the side of the building. This gives me a chance to talk with them privately.

"So, nothing?"

"Nada," comments Daniel.

"Zippo," adds Matt.

"You still got your crest on?"

Matt looks around and whispers, "Yeah, the fact that I still have it makes me wonder if I'll still need it."

The conversation is abruptly dropped as James returns.

"Whoa, you talkin' smack about me while I was gone?" he jokes, noticing the sudden gap in conversation.

"Oh, yeah. We were having a Jim Bob-bashing party. You missed all the fun." Matt jokes. The tension dies. We don't ask why he left.

The bell rings, so we go to class. Algebra, despite my missing week, was easy. But Gym is looming on the horizon. Daniel, Jessica, and I make our way to class. For them, it's still unnerving approaching the gymnasium, where they disappeared two weeks ago.

"Jessica!" Haley Queens calls. "What's going on, Girl? You've been quiet recently."

"I'm kinda tired all the time. Plus, there's _that_."

"That? Okay, the whole kidnapping thing. Sorry, but that's getting to be old news."

_See?_

"Hey, baby." Josh Barrakson calls.

"Josh, shut up." Haley answers, aggravated on cue.

"C'mon, don't be hating my best bud. He's just messing with you." Blake Statehedd comments. This is one of Blake's cleaner comments. Taping his normal conversation and editing it for content usually produces a blank tape, if you catch my drift.

"Hey, Dork! Think fast." I duck.

An arm goes sailing over my head.

"Fast enough?" I remark to Stuart Dora, who is not exactly my best friend, to say the least.

"I suppose. I'll get you next time."

I exhale deeply. _Evil digimon, piece of cake.__ Stuart, that's another story._

I'm the last one to change clothes for P.E., because my locker got stuck. I run out right as Mr. Adams takes roll.

"As you know, we'll be doing fencing today."

Cheers. _We usually get simple stuff like prisonball…_

"Can't we just play prisonball?" I hear Haley whine. I smile.

"Well, Chris, since you think it's so funny, why don't you go first? I'm sure Stuart would love to spar with you." I force myself not to have an expression.

Mr. Adams is a nice guy, but he's a jock. So is Stuart. He's not what you'd call muscular, but he's good at sports.

I put on the mask and feel the sword. It's rather light. Mr. Adams shows me a few swipes. "Try to stay on your feet." he advises and walks away.

The sparring starts out okay. I have to take the defense a lot, but I'm glad for quick reflexes when I get a little adventurous and take a swipe.

Then I get a hard strike from Stuart. I almost lose my grip, but pull back just in time. He speeds up the pace. He's got the evilest smile on his face. _He's playing tough. _I try to look at Mr. Adams, but he's chatting with the cheerleading coach, as usual. He only checks occasionally to check to see if Josh and Blake don't burn down the gym. Or that Haley hasn't seriously injured herself. I do my best to hold back against Stuart. I decide there's something wrong when the blade brushes my arm. I look at Stuart angrily when I notice something. He's not Stuart anymore. He's… me. I see the familiar blue widow's peak, but it's darker than mine is. He's wearing a robe like the Caretaker. I slash hard, pushing him back and look to the side. "Am I getting you now?" he jeers.

The class doesn't notice. They're disinterested. Except for Daniel and Jessica. I dodge and roll over towards them. My evil twin follows. That when I notice something. Jessica's in deep concentration. Her crest is glowing beneath her shirt. _She's creating a mirage._

"Chris, what's going on?" I hear Daniel whisper.

"I don't know." I swipe at my shoulder is the last straw. I feel my crest get warm and see it glow. The next swipe hit my dome aura. Time now in slow motion and armed with preternatural skill, I advance, with a very aggressive swipe. The ringing of crashing steel fills my ears. I get a good shot at his leg. He retreats, but I feel the cut on my own leg. The leg of my robe feels heavier, absorbing the blood.

Realizing that my opponent is some kind of evil Caretaker clone, I take a dozen forceful strikes that hold him to the wall. "Who are you?" I ask him.

"I'm you."  
  
"Liar!"

"No, I'm the Avenger of Conceit." He takes another swipe at me, and I have to dodge, freeing him. "Suffocation of Mist!" he cries. I have to dodge the water stream, but I get knocked over.

"Protection of…" I almost cry, but instead, grab my sword, feeling the sting of my thigh. I pin him to the wall again, my sword at his throat. "Daniel, take it."

"What?"

"Grab it."

"But…"

"I feel the pain I inflict on him. If I try to stab him, I'll give up and he'll get me. I'm letting go in five seconds. If you don't grab it, he'll get it and cut both our throats before you can blink. Four…"

Daniel grabs it immediately, but doesn't move it. I continue, "Kill him. Three…"

"But won't it kill you?"

"Maybe, but we're better off with only me dead. Two…"

"I'm not…" he starts to loosen his grip.

"He'll take it… before you can blink. One…" He shoves it in. I gasp for air.

The Avenger falls. My aura, robes, and sword, along with his, disappear.

Mr. Adams comes up to me. "Very good job, Chris."

I look over and Stuart's on the ground, his sword lying on the floor several feet from him.

Jessica, giving me a look, "It was a long fight, but you got him with a nice underhand swipe."

Stuart sneers at me, "Well…?"

"Looks like you're zero for two." I reach out and help him up. He squeezes my hand hard.

Sharply, he tells me, "Take care."

I look around, and he gives me a knowing look.

I grab Daniel and Jessica on the way out.

"Way to J.J. By the way, Stuart knows somehow."

"I miraged him too. He saw the fake fight. It was tricky, thank you very much."

"You're good." I tell her, tilting my head.

Daniel's eyes go wide, "Your hair!"

I feel my head. Sure enough, my widow's peak is back. "It's just paint. Someone in art left it in the sink. I must have gotten it there when I washed me face." I say deliberately, giving them a look.

We dress out and head for our next class.

"Hey," I hear from behind me. Behind me is Diana Owler, my best friend and short-distance pen pal.

"I'll catch you later." I tell Daniel and Jessica as they walk off. 

"So, Christopher, what's going on?"

"Not much, I beat Stuart Dora in fencing."

"Way to go?" she compliments, though not knowing whether to. "What's with your hair? Coloring is not like you at all."

"Paint from the sink in the gym. Some art student must have left it there. What class you got next?" I change the subject quickly. _Too quickly_, I think.

"Well, for three more weeks until the end of school, I have Creative Writing. I've told you several times."

"I was out for a week. You forget things without being reminded." I grin, but she becomes silent. Diana took my disappearance hard.

She changes the subject, as quickly and abruptly, "Well, I'm working on my next letter. I'll get it to you as soon as I can."

"'Kay, well, I got to get to Spanish. Bye, Diana."

"Bye, Christopher."

Diana looks around as I walk off and sets down her backpack while she hides in a corner, kneeling down to open her backpack. A brown, upright-standing, three-foot tall eagle pops out.

In a British voice, it speaks, "Diana, what is it?"

"Christopher didn't have a widow's peak before. He's lying about the paint."

"Well, why would he do that?"

"Why would he have a digivice attached to his belt loop?" she says, fingering the golden-yellow D-3 in the water bottle pouch of her own backpack.

"What are you thinking, Diana?"

"I'm thinking that he wasn't kidnapped last week. I'm thinking he was in the DigiWorld."

"How did he get there? I can't even get there, and I'm from there. I came here without a return address so to speak."

"I don't know, but we'll find out eventually. You tell me there's no reason for me to have you if there weren't some kind of big trouble brewing."

Diana rubs her neck, devoid of any kind of necklace.

: : :

A/N: And the plot thickens. I'd ask all sorts of Rocky and Bullwinkle cliffhanger questions and give two pun-filled alternate titles, but then again, why would I want to?

(Sonriso) - Hmm, evil twins. I think somebody's been watching a few too many soap opera, yes?


	3. Service Project

Dark Reflections: Service Project

by Creedogmon

edited by Godeerc VanDrey

Category: _Digimon_

Genre: Fantasy, Action/Adventure

Rating: PG

Language: English

Summery: Christopher contemplates the return of his power. He finds that the battle isn't quite over.

A/N: If you're reading this, you obviously haven't given up on me yet, and I'm glad. I'm putting quite a bit of work into these, including several revisions. I do this for you, my fans, all who read this. (I read this, too, and yes, I do this for me, as well.)

* * *

Chapter 3: Service Project

I enter my house and quietly go upstairs to work on my homework. I hope my mom doesn't hear me. She's still sore because I set off the house alarm this morning. I swore I looked at the alarm panel and it said that it wasn't set, but my eyes must have been playing tricks on me. Plus, I have two locks of blue hair.

No such luck. She calls to me and I greet her downstairs. Of course she asks me about my hair. I tell her the paint in the sink story. She accepts it. _Now, what to tell her when the "paint" doesn't come out? Oh, well, one battle at a time._

I check my e-mail. _There's a Scout service project this afternoon. I guess I forgot._

: : :

With work gloves on their hands and sunglasses on their eyes, Phillip, Matt, and James start to pull rocks from the hard ground. James talks about his latest girlfriend as he wrestles with a particularly stubborn stone as he talks about his newest girlfriend. James is not a heartbreaker, quite the opposite. James is a Southern Baptist to the core and he treats all his relationships with respect, but it just seems he's giving out a lot of respect. Matt, however, is too distracted to listen. Daniel has informed him that Chris VanDrey regained his power earlier today. At school earlier, an evil twin, the Avenger, started a fight. Chris defeated him, but Daniel said that _he_ was the one who killed the copy, because Chris seemed to mirror the injury of his replica. The wounds healed quickly afterwards, but Daniel seems clearly shaken by having to do away with the Avenger, especially concerning whether he was guilty of murder, not by law, but by his own conscience. Matt dearly wished he could have reassured him, but the lack of precedent made it difficult.

Matt then stumbles on a rather persistent rock himself. He considers trying to use his power to deroot the darn thing, now that he knows the powers can be repossessed by force, but there are too many people around, who'd be curious of the strange growths. Regardless, it finally pops out, and Matt falls backwards onto his butt.

"You get yourself a thrashing lunker there?" James jokes.

Matt adopts a ridiculous country accent, "Yeah, pull'd 'im righ' outta da watah. But he _shooooore_ put up a fight."

Matt jumps at a sound behind his head. It was Phillip, catching a rock.

"Hey, watch it!" Phillip cries.

"Watch this," the voice returns. Matt gets a rather sharp rock in the hand. Pulling off his gloves, he finds his hand bleeding.

"What's you problem?" he calls back.

"Just having a little fun." a tall boy—Matt didn't recognize him—answers.

Closing his fist, he calls back, "Fun doesn't usually lead to bloodshed." Another rock is launched. James steps on a shovel, rested on a flat rock, and grabs the shaft as the spade blocks the projectile.

"Thanks, James."

They turn back, and winding up like a baseball pitcher is… Matt.

The real Matt, hand bleeding, notices James's perturbed expression. With no time to explain as his evil twin throws a fastball, Matt tries to call upon his power. The flat _cluck_ of the rock hitting his aura reassures him. He gets up, his body hard as oak. Another rock comes flying. A short tree shoots up from the ground, taking the impact.

"Nice catch, Magistrate."

"Thanks, and what shall I call you?"

"I am the Partisan of Indolence. Here to take my rightful place over you."

"I seem to recall that magistrates do the judging."

"I have lobbyists." Suddenly, Matt is hit by a tremendous force. A giant beast—_The Patron?_ —pins Matt to the ground. "Phillip, get off!"

"That's not me. Just a second." Matt hears Phillip call from across the field.

The beast is blasted off. Matt turns to thank Phillip, smiling, but he sees the glow just then leaving Phillip and forming the Patron. He looks back. His hero is a thirty-foot red falcon with metallic wings. He is perched on the ground. Behind him is James, with a red digivice in his hand. Before he has time to process the scene, a shadow comes upon him. He falls back and scoots away as the beast pounces toward him, but it is knocked off course by the real Patron. Now safe out of harm's way, he sees the two behemoths fighting. He looks left to see his replica. He tries to vine-tie the Partisan, but he is too strong, quickly breaking the vines. He looks at Matt and smiles evilly, lifting his arms.

"Desolation of Forest!" Matt gets up, but trips on a rock. Again, his demise is averted by the bird, its metal wing blocking the force. He lifts his arms to retaliate, but remembers something. _Whatever hurts him hurts me._ It is then when he realizes his arms are sore from the vines he used to trap the Partisan. He slams his fist into the ground and a near forest of vines, trees, and other plants surround the Partisan, creating a temporary cage.

The Patron lands hard beside him, flat on his flanks. It whispers, in its deep, scratchy voice, "It hurts when I attack him."

"I got it, Phil."

Vines wrap around the Malefactor. It calls out "Disdain of Creature" breaking some of the vines, but new ones quickly surround him. One rather large vine wraps around its neck. Firmly tied, it growls as Matt walks toward it. "Magistrate. You will not defeat the Malefactor of Hindrance."

"Oh, no?"

A large snap is heard. Two cries, one from the Malefactor and one from the Patron, who recovers. Matt calls, "You okay?"

"Yeah. That didn't feel so great."

"Do me a favor."

"Okay. What?" Before Matt has a chance to answer, the Partisan breaks through the last layer. Matt makes eye contact with the Patron. The Patron arises and runs toward the Partisan, landing flatly on him. Matt gasps as the wind is vicariously knocked out of him. He collapses to the ground, cowering in pain, and James and the bird digimon come to his aid. His power heals the wounds, leaving bruises and scars, but Matt loses consciousness regardless.

Phillip comes over, "Oh, no, did I…?"

James replies, "No, he'll be fine in a second. I think."

Phillip looks up at the giant bird, "Whose this?"

"Spiremon."

"A digimon?"

"Yeah. Apparently, they're real."

Matt finally rouses. "Hey, Phillip, what did you do to him?"

"Well, for starters…"

"Actually, don't. I remember every detail. So, Jim Bob, who's your big buddy?"

"Spiremon. Well, Delcomon now." The large bird has shrunk to a four-foot creature. It is red all over, its mouth somewhat beak-like, and it has a thin, yellowish turtle shell and a pointed tail.

"Hi," it greets in a soft, but raspy voice.

"Hey. I'm not familiar with your breed of digimon." Phillip comments, "what did you digivolve from?"

"James, it knows about digimon."

Phillip remarks indignantly, "I am a DigiDestined. _And_ I'm a big fan of the show."

"Show? James, what's a show?"

"The television."

"The picures on the magic box?"

Phillip laughs, "So…"

Delcomon answers, "I digivolved from a digimon called a Koromon."

Phillip's eyes lit up, "Like Agumon."

Delcomon, surprised, answered, "Yes, like an Agumon."

James speaks, "Guys, you might want to fill me in on how you guys turned into… whatever you turned into. And why you had people who looked like your transformations attacking you."

Matt looks around; "It's long story. I'd suggest we get out of here. People are starting to come over."

James smiles, "Don't worry about that. By the way, nice hair, guys."

: : :

Safety in the air on the back of the gliding Spiremon, the boys discuss the situation.

James nods, "So that's why you guys were missing a week. You would not believe the crazy looks I got from the police when I told them you just disappeared, Matt."

"Sorry," Matt says, brushing the green lock out of his eyes.

"What I'm wondering James," Phillip comments, "is why you got a digimon, but weren't send to the DigiWorld, whereas we were sent to the DigiWorld, but not given digimon."

"I don't know. That is pretty odd. Assuming that we're the same set of… DigiDestined? I'm not the right person to bounce ideas off. The only things I know about the DigiWorld and such is what I've gathered from your ramblings, Phillip, and what Delcomon's told me."

"I have a bad feeling." Matt thinks aloud, "I mean, why are these evil twins coming after us? If I were an evil twin, I'd definitely come after myself, but why would I exist?"

"You think too hard," jokes James.

"You don't think when you should," Matt counters, grinning.

: : :

I walk onto the field, and it is utter chaos with hysterical people running and pointing. "What's going on?" I ask the first person I see.

The man quickly yells out, completely deranged, "Monsters! They were fighting each other, and they flew away on a big bird."

"Okay, who broke the gas line?"

Then I see it: enormous skid marks in the ground, and oddly shaped trees in the middle of the field.

_It's not over yet._

: : :

A/N: Okay, I'm surprised. I'm rewriting significant sections of this story, and it's not as hard as I thought it would be. I'm almost tempted to ask someone who read the original how he or she feels about this one, whether it's better. I mean, this one doesn't change tenses. If it does, it's on purpose this time. I've worked a lot with it, and I hope you're enjoying it. I can't help but shake the feeling this series is more for me than it is for you. By the way, this is not Matt Ishida in my stories. It's another Matt. Sorry to create confusion.

(Sonriso) - Oh, by the way, I'm not the smiley from Debbie's work. Her smiley has no soul. I am virile and sarcastic. Hmm, so that's what juxtaposition feels like.


	4. Agony of Victory

Dark Reflections: Agony of Victory

by Creedogmon

edited by Godeerc VanDrey

Category: _Digimon_

Genre: Action/Adventure, Fantasy

Rating: PG

Language: English

Summery: Daniel and Jessica play in a scrimmage game at Westwood. Of course, other stuff happens.

A/N: Well, if you're not quite enjoying this book, the next one will be better. For weeks now, I'm getting nothing but inspiration for the third part of the trilogy, which, ironically, I haven't been inspired to create a title for. Oh, well. By the way, I'm not quite sure where I got the name "Dark Reflections," so if you happen to have a story titled this, I did not do it intentionally, really.

* * *

Chapter 4: Agony of Victory

Jessica picks up the phone in her room, "Hello, Christopher?"

"Yeah. It's happening again." I tell her.

"He came back?" A dark image of a scowling Caretaker appears in the middle of Jessica's room, which Jessica looks at with loathing. It disappears as Jessica shakes her hand.

"No, clones of Matt and Phillip. I went to a service project yesterday and I definitely saw the handiwork of the Magistrate and the Patron. Witnesses say they left on a large red bird." Jessica turns her head away at hearing the news. A small red bird flies around the room. "That can't be Anna. Yeah, her flaming hot bod takes on the shape of a Phoenix and it's not like we could ride her even if…"

I cut her off, "No, James Warren has a digimon." The bird disappears and an image of the blond James stands in the room, motionless. Jessica looks at neither.

"Like Eric?" Jessica looks out the window, pensively.

"Yep."

Jessica sighs and comments, "That makes eleven of us." The mirage of James fades as Jessica looks over at it.

"I know."

: : :

"Welcome to the Westwood Junior High School Thirty-first Annual Pre-Season Scrimmage Match!" roars the announcer over loudspeaker. Loud, almost violent cheering ensues. I cover my ears. _Isn't school spirit great?_ Someone on my left shoves me, and I take on an annoyed grin.

"Too loud for you?" Diana yells over the noise.

"Yeah."

"How do you deal with being on the drumline?"

I pull earplugs out my pocket. I get a condescending look.

The cheers die down as the loudspeaker returns, "Well, folks, we have the blue team on the home side and the white team on the visitors' side."

"Go, Daniel!" Diana jumps up and yells. I give her a bemused look. Diana and I are the more of the reserved type. "Get up!" I'm ordered.

"Sorry, I failed Cheering 101."

"We've both failed School Spirit 1-oh-everything, and I'm cheering." Defeated, I half-heartedly join her. _Well, three-quarter-heartedly._

: : :

Jessica, in her blue uniform, passes the soccer ball over to Daniel. He runs with it, dribbling it between his feet, with a forward of the white team quickly approaching. The goal was nearing, but still too far away. Swallowing his pride, he kicks it to a teammate, promising to make the next goal himself.

_Promises made, Promises kept._ The goalie dives, but is hopeless in saving his team another goal.

"Blue team is up by one: 3 to 2. And a beautiful steal by #17: Daniel Apon. And there he goes. Good luck catching up with him. He shoots and…"

Daniel's kick sends the ball flying, but the goalie jumps in front of it, and _is thrown back into the net._

"That's got to hurt!" the announcer says, cringing.

The goalie doesn't seem fazed though. He mindlessly kicks the ball back into play. Daniel can't help but notice the showy way that he does it. It's almost… _dainty_.

Jessica heads the ball and dribbles it forward, then notices something. The goalie, who was supposed to be Stuart Dora, who couldn't make it, is now not even the substitute he was a minute ago. It's… Daniel. Only he's in a white uniform. She realizes, with a quick look to her right at the real thing, that this is not Daniel, and immediately starts to mirage him back into the person he was, but, not remembering what he looked like, opts for a Stuart's fraternal twin. She has the ball and it's an easy shot, but she holds it under her foot, scoots it backwards, and runs to the left. Daniel comes up on it and kicks it hard.

The goalie, again taking the ball in the stomach lunges back, but kicks the ball back into play. Daniel tries to regain his lost breath. His evil clone sends it to the other side of the field, so Daniel half turns around to watch. There is a tough stalemate going on the other side of the field. Blue Team's goalie saves several shots, but never gets the ball to the other half of the field. Satisfied with some free time, Daniel pulls a rock from the ground with his foot and kicks it toward his clone. The audience, minus his fellow DigiDestined allies, is all eyes on the action, away from Daniel. His rock, rather sharp, spins like a blade and cuts the cheek of the evil twin. Daniel doesn't even wince as a scar appears on his own face.

He sees another rock a few feet up the field; he does the same with it, nearing his mirror image. His twin however is oddly passive, taking every rock, but not retaliating. "So, I'm the Champion, who are you?" Daniels asks, a quick glance back seeing that the blue team is making progress toward the other side.

The dark Daniel smiles, "I am the Saboteur of Failure. Though, I may not live up to my name, if you don't score another point." Daniel quickly glances at the scoreboard: tied 3 to 3 with only two minutes to go.

"So this is the Challenger I was looking for. A guy who can't even block a couple of rocks." The Saboteur touches his cheek, leaving a streak of blood on his hand. "Oh, I could block them if I wanted to, but I enjoy seeing you helpless to inflict pain on me without inflicting it on yourself. I didn't know you were such a masochist."

Daniel steps back, "I'm not. I didn't you were, either."

The Saboteur smiles, "Oh, I am." With this, his skin hardens to stone. He kicks the sharp rock up, again feeling his cheek. "Pain is so invigorating." He catches it on his foot and kicks it straight at Daniel, who remains motionless, the rock hitting his aura. When the aura dissolves, Daniel's skin is rock hard, too. Frowning, the Saboteur commands, "Defeat of Stone!"

"Fair enough," Daniel jests, suddenly leaping sideways into the air, kicking the returning soccer ball straight into the air, and avoiding the sandy blast, which goes beneath him. He lands, catching the ball with his knee, and continues to bounces it from knee to knee, taunting the Saboteur. With a quick wink to the waiting Jessica, he fakes a sideswipe to his left and sends the ball straight towards the Saboteur, whose hands are ready and whose evil grin is prominent on his face.

The ball passes through the Saboteurs hands, fading as it goes through his body like a hologram. "What?" To his right, the Saboteur hears a foot kicking a ball, and as his turns his head, it is forcibly turned the other way by an oncoming ball kicked by Jessica, who stands smiling. A harsh _snap_ is heard, and Daniel falls backwards onto the ground. There is a moment of silence.

"And Westwood Blue gets the last point on a shot kicked by #22: forward Jessica Williams!" the announcer roars. As a loud cheering comes from the bleachers, Daniel extents his arms out in victory, getting up to pick up Jessica, as the rest of the team joins into the carry. His hands free, he massages his necks.

While in the arms of her teammates, Jessica pats Daniel on the shoulder and guestures at the crowd. Daniel looks over and sees Christopher jumping up and down celebrating. They both laugh at the sight of such a shy boy in such a crazy mood.

(A/N: I've finally reached a conflict in my multiple points of view standard. I just referred to myself in the third person; not to mention just made a negative comment about myself.)

: : :

Daniel and Jessica, towels around their necks, meet up with Diana and me.

"Hey, guys, great job today," Diana compliments. I add in a "yeah."

"Well, thank you," Daniel bows, "It's not easy being a champion, but someone's gotta do it." There is a brief silence, and then we all laugh. Daniel pops his neck and another silence ensues, but again is broken by laughter.

"Well, all I got to say," starts Diana, "is that your last fake, Daniel, was great. I could have swore you were gonna kick it straight at the goalie." The silence returns as we exchange glances, but Jessica starts off the laughing.

Diana mentions, "By the way, Daniel, what's up with your hair? Did you get that permanent paint in your hair that Christopher got in his?"

: : :

A gruff voice questions, "So, do we have a count yet?"

Another voice answers, "Yes, sir. Eight missing person reports. Two from Sunday the fifteenth, three from the sixteenth, two from the seventeenth, and one from the second. All eight were minors, and all returned on Sunday the sixth."

"The tox screenings?"

"They're not done yet."

"What about the factory?"

"Abandoned and cleared. We missed them."

"Dammit. Any evidence?"

"Besides trash and clothing, we found twelve syringes with an unidentified chemical in it."

"Document it. We'll on their trail. They're on the run."

: : :

A/N: Hmm. This is getting good. Of course, I'm the author, so of course _I_ think it's good. I think this is a masterpiece that should go on every bookshelf, right beside _The Lord of the Rings_, which would of course dwarf it. There is the whole nasty copyright mumbo-jumbo, so don't expect it in bookstores anytime soon.

(Sonriso) - If it weren't for those pesky copyrights, lots of FFN would be millionaires! FFN authors, who's with me? Down with copyrights! Now, don't all yell out at once!


	5. Tedious Stars

Dark Reflections: Tedious Stars

by Creedogmon

edited by Godeerc VanDrey

Category: _Digimon_

Genre: General, Fantasy

Rating: PG-13 (Merely a precaution. It gets a little harsh.)

Language: English

Summery: Chapter 5 is up. Now, I'll give you a hint about what happens in this story. What has happened in the last three chapters? Okay, now look at the title. Who do you think this story is about? Now, do know the general outline of this story? Wow, you're smart!

A/N: I like my sarcasm like I like my peanut butter: laid on thick. Of course, I don't actually like thick peanut butter, but you get the idea, right? Anyway, if you've survived the last thirteen chapters of Power of Crests and the last four chapters of this mess, you are perfectly capable of reading this chapter and giving me positive reviews. No, don't worry that would won't be able to, just try. You'll be surprised how easy it is to give a good review. Give it a shot. Don't even read the chapter! It makes it easier.

* * *

Chapter 5: Tedious Stars 

The tall, thin, dark-haired Mrs. Reyes smiles as her daughter and red-haired friend chat in the kitchen. Justine is a nice, friendly girl, but is shy, especially after her kidnapping, but it's nice to see she's friends with such an outgoing girl. "Okay, girls, here some popcorn. You can pull the TV into your room, Justine, and watch movies, but I don't want you bouncing around at 2:30 in the morning."

"It's okay, Mrs. Reyes," Anna comments, putting her arm around Justine, "We'll try to keep it down. We're just going to be giving Miss Justine here a makeover." Anna proudly displays her large makeup kit.

"Okay, but don't ruin my beautiful daughter. If she starts going to school dressed like Courtney Love every day, there'll be hell to pay."

Laughing, Anna responds, "Got it."

: : :

"Hold still, Justine!" Anna says, trying to put eye shadow on Justine.

"Not so heavy." Justine turns her head away. "As much as I appreciate the lesson, you're going a little all out. No guys are coming to my front door. Even if they were, my mom would shoo them away."

"They could climb onto the roof and into the window." Anna smiles, starting to brush Justine's hair. Justine looks in the mirror and wipes off what she can of the excess make-up. "By the way, are there any cute guys in this neighborhood?" Anna questions.

"Not unless you count Will Frend."

"Oh, does Virginia have a cute older brother?"

"Yeah, but he's in second grade."

"Not that kind of cute, Honey," Anna remarks, turning Justine's head to face her. She releases it and starts to fashion Justine's hair.

"Well, Anna, there's not guys our age in this neighborhood besides Chris VanDrey down the street." Justine gets the last dab of eye shadow she can off her eye.

Anna looks out the window towards the VanDrey house and coughs.

"Annacaye Eve Lee!"

"Sorry. Chris is a nice guy, but kinda shy."

"And why is it that you like me?"

"You're nice and kinda shy. Here, look at yourself, you're fabulous." Anna hands Justine the mirror.

Justine is quiet. "Wow, that's really nice. Remind me to call you for Homecoming." Justine's hair is crossed and woven in the back, with a small spurt of hair sticking up through the mix. "You're really good."

Anna sighs a proud sigh, with an Irish accent, " 'Sin me genes. We Irish folks jus' got dat talen' for good-lookin'ness."

Justine laughs, "So, Anna, we've got _Bring It On_ and _The Bridge on the River Kwai_."

Anna adopts a Southern accent, "Oh, girl, you _know_ I'm partial to cheerleading movies."

Justine, putting in the tape, smiles, "Why? You're a pom girl."

Anna, continuing with her accent, replies, "Oh, dat wuz a _low_ blow. I am goshdarn _proud_ to be part of duh pom squad. Bettah known as deh jazz dance team." She grabs Justine and pulls her back

"Toh-may-toe, toh-mah-toe." Justine replies, with false indifference.

"I'll give you a tomayto-tomahto if you mess with me." Anna jokes, pushing Justine down onto the bed.

: : :

The girls lie back in Justine's bed, side-by-side, the glow of the TV illuminating Justine's closed eyes and Anna's half-open ones. The credits appear and Anna looks over to her sleeping friend and smiles as she fingers a tress of hair out of Justine's face. She lies down beside her closes her eyes and opens them just once more, giving a brief glance at Justine and then the TV. They pop open and she bolts up in bed.

"Well, isn't that cute. You girls are just adorable," a shadow says to Anna. She leans forward, revealing that she is a Justine look-alike, sitting on the television, legs crossed.

"Justine," Anna whispers, rousing her friend with her arm, who looks up and too bolts up.

"Hey, beautiful," the girl remarks. "No, do get up. It makes it easier to get rid of you. Hey, two birds with one meteorite. Monotony of Star!" A comet shoots from the girl's body. The girls roll off the bed in different directions, and the comet hits the bedpost and explodes with light, not harming the bed. The clone slips off the TV, revealing her long, purple, tattered dress. Her hair, identical to Justine, is streaked with stiff, black shocks of hair.

Anna sneers, "What kind of blast was that? I didn't damage the bed."

"The bed doesn't have a life force. Trust me, you wouldn't enjoy the feeling. Monotony of Star." Anna again rolls out of the way, the comet again hitting the wall and showering sparks.

"Justine, Honey, are you okay?" Anna hears Mrs. Reyes call from downstairs.

"We're fine, Mrs. Reyes, I just rolled out of bed. I'll be fine." Anna calls, never taking her eyes off of the evil Justine, who smiles at her, then looks to the other side of the bed, where Justine is not to be found.

"Well, dear me, wear did that pesky twin of mine go?" the evil Justine questions.

"Over here." calls Justine, throwing a tape case at her evil replica. It breaks, hitting the twin's shoulder. Justine grabs her own arm from the strange form of recoil. "Silly Inquirer, you dare attack the Nuisance of Tedium?

Anna reaches around the Nuisance, grabbing her around the shoulder and stomach. When the Nuisance laughs, there is quick sizzle and the Nuisance yelps. "What's the matter? Can't take the heat?" Anna threatens to the fake, mouthing, "I'm sorry" to the crouching Justine, who nods back. Anna slams the Nuisance into the wall, with left hand over the Nuisance's face and the other under her breast. "I wouldn't move if I were you."

"You wouldn't ruin the pretty face of the Inquirer, would you?" she mocks.

Anna's formerly stern face goes blank from realization.

"Did think about that? That you'd be burning the face of your little girlfriend?"

"So help me…" Anna whispers, snake-like, her eyes alit.

"So help you, wha–"

She is cut short by a scalding hand to her throat. Tears fall down Anna's cheek as she hears her best friend wheezing in the background. _Whatever happens to the twin happens to the original_, Anna hears Christopher's voice say in the back of her mind, _but killing the twin will not kill the original._

The Nuisance tries to speak, but nothing comes out. Anna throws her to the ground, placing her hands on the back of her victim. "I'm sorry, Justine." Shaking her head, Anna's hands turn red as she presses firmly on the backbone of the Nuisance, who lets out a voiceless scream, who glows with white light before disappearing, leaving Anna on her knees on the floor.

Hearing footsteps and a call for Justine from her mom, Anna jumps up and grabs the Justine in an embrace, her hand on Justine's neck and another on her back. Anna leans back, absorbing every last flicker of heat from the unconscious Justine until her body shivers. The door opens, "Girls, what's going on in here?"

Anna looks around, not knowing what to say.

"We were having a pillow fight, Mom," a voice comes from behind Anna.

Anna whirls around and the two share a secret smile.

"Well, Anna, you having quite a bad influence on my daughter."

Anna turns around, guilty. Mrs. Reyes smiles, "Well, at least it's not a _boy _having a bad influence on my daughter." Anna gives a sigh of relief. "Well, girls, when all the mayhem has ceased, get to bed."

"Yes, Mom."

"Sure, Mrs. Reyes."

"By the way, what did you do my daughter's hair?" Anna turns around seeing the white streak in Justine's hair.

"Oh, we dyed a streak. I think it comes out." Anna turns back to Mrs. Reyes with the same guilty look.

"You think?" Mrs. Reyes replies, lowering her brow.

"It will eventually," Anna stutters, "I forgot to check to see if it's the more permanent kind."

Mrs. Reyes forces a smile, "Oh well. I guess girls will be girls." Mrs. Reyes sighs while shaking head. "Good night."

Mrs. Reyes closes the door, and Anna tightly hugs Justine.

"Not so hard, babe," Justine says, smiling

Anna does not, "Justine, are you okay?" Her eyes are heavy.

"I'll be fine. You sucked all the heat out. Plus, Aloe Vera does wonders. I'll just tell my mom I had a run-in with a curling iron."

"Your hair's not curly." Anna notices.

"Well, there's our next project." Justine says, still smiling.

The two hug again.

: : :

The next Monday, as I hop into the Reyes's minivan, I notice something about Justine, several things in fact.

Mr. Reyes, a short, friendly man with glasses, turns and asked me, "Well, which did you notice first? The fact that my daughter has a white streak in her hair? Or that it's curly? Or her new contacts? Or that her neck is burned?" Justine turns to look at me, giving me secret looks.

"The former two I noticed immediately, and the latter two now that's she turned around. So, how'd they all happen?"

She answers for her father, "One word: Anna Lee."

The streak and "contacts" I understand. _Anna must have curled her hair_, I guess. _But the burn on her neck?_

I give her an "oh-no" look, but she mouths "It's okay," back to me. I'm not quite sure. At a neighborhood party once, she slipped while playing tag and skinned her leg on her own driveway, and she didn't look okay to me. I've never known Justine to be one who dealt well with pain. She gives me a calming look before choosing a radio station.

As the minivan halts in the Westwood Junior High drop-off area, I half-expect Justine to avoid Anna, but first thing she does after getting out is seek her out and give her a tight hug. I catch Anna's eye in the middle of the hug. She gives me a sad look, looking down toward Justine and I return her look.

Sympathy is the combination of two Greek words: _sym- _meaning "together" and _–pathos_ meaning "to feel." I experience sympathy with Anna that day.

I go over to talk with James, because I've heard something very interesting about him.

: : :

A/N: Whew. No matter what, I always enjoy doing these. I hope you've enjoyed it as much as I have. I see that they're getting a little dark, but I think my work could use a little depth. "Anybody can write sentiment. It takes an author to write depth." I don't know who said that.

(Sonriso) - Sonriso is beginning to feel out of place of these fics because they're getting to be so harsh. Oh well, at least I can fake an Irish accent like Anna. " 'Tis luck uv da Ireesh tha' Ah steell 'ave uh jobe."


	6. Wildfire

Dark Reflections: Wildfire

by Creedogmon

edited by Godeerc VanDrey

Category: _Digimon_

Genre: Fantasy, Action/Adventure

Rating: PG-13 (for a bitty bit of violence)

Language: English

Summery: Remember my last summery? Good. The Westwood Pioneers play in the West Georgia Junior High Semi-Finals. The team is absolutely on fire.

A/N: Hint-hint, nudge-nudge. The countdown to back-to-school has started. As far as I know, there is only going to be nine chapters to Part II, so I may be able to get them all out to you soon. By the way, take note of the point of view changes.

* * *

Chapter 6: Wildfire

I've never figured out how exactly it is that Diana gets me to come to athletic events. I've also never figured out how she gets to me to cheer occasionally. Well, she got me to the West Georgia Semi-Finals basketball tournament, but she's yet to get me to cheer. This is a war of the wills if I ever saw one. It's not as if I don't have school spirit.

Oh, wait, I don't, not really, especially in terms of athletic events.

I like my school. It's one of the best in Georgia. I've just never been much of a sports fan. In Little League, I was one of those left-fielder-who-never-got-to-second-base kinds of players. Not that I minded. I got in touch with God. "God," I'd pray, "please don't send me the ball." And God usually answered by prayers. I got plenty of time to think about stuff as the ball never came anywhere near me. Of course, our team didn't win a single game all season, but I didn't mind. One week of spring practice was enough baseball for me for a year, but I was tricked.

Basketball, it's not a bad sport. My parents send me to a day camp once to learn basketball, and I learned to throw jump shots. I was good, provided that I had at least two minutes to prepare for each shot and no one was blocking me. So, my sports career ended in junior high, along with my acting career. I'd been in plays before, but I was never very good. Of course, adults never told me this. Of course, at nine years old, all kids appear to be the next Tom Hanks. None are good, but they're all _trying_.

So, I became a brain. It's fun being a brain. You wreck the grade curve every once in a while. The administration doesn't even check before they cite you as being on the honor roll. Plus, you get all the girls…

"And that's another beautiful three-pointer by #6: Stuart Dora! The Pioneers lead 29 to 22." the announcer cries.

Awoken from my thoughts, which were quickly turning into fantasies, I watch the players run across the court (somewhat randomly it seems to me), but apparently, we're well organized. That's why we're here at the Semi-Finals in Savannah.

"Go, Team, GO!" the cheerleaders and pom squad shout, jumping around and moving their arms in what is supposed to be unison. I can't say the junior high marching band is any better with the whole unison thing, but I've seen the Raytonville High Marching Band and they are like clockworks, so I'm sure that their band director will kick us into shape next year.

"Analiece! Get that cheese out of your hair!" Diana's voice calls beside me. Smiling, I look over as Diana's two-year-old sister pulls her fingers out of the nacho cheese dip. Napkin in hand, Diana starts cleaning off the cheese.

"I'll get more napkins."  
  
"Thank you," she tells me deliberately.

"And that's two more points for Westwood, but the Eagles get the ball back."

I bring back two handfuls of napkins, which are quickly put into use.

"You have no idea how hard it is to deal with a two-year-old," she comments to me.

"I have a good idea. I baby-sit…"

"…Virginia. Yeah, I forgot. But you're paid to do it for a few hours at time. I live with this tornado." Diana begins to wipe what cheese she can out from her little sister's hair.

"Birdie!" Analiece calls. Diana goes quiet for a moment, then reaching in her bag. I think she's whispering to somebody, but she brings out a stuffed bird doll. It is a brown hawk, and I recognize it.

"Hawkmon," I comment.

Diana pales. I point to the doll, "Hawkmon. There's this cartoon show. Don't ask me why I watch it, but Hawkmon is one of the characters, and that's a doll of it."

Giving a sigh of relief, she mutters, "For a second, I thought you were psychic. It's my brother's doll, and that's what he calls it. He must watch the show, too."

"Yeah."

: : :

The clock starts counting down for the fifteen-minute half-time show. The first group to perform is the pom squad, including Anna, with a bow in her hair and decal on her cheek. Dressed in sleeveless black shirts and sequenced blue pants, they perform an elaborate jazz routine to clips of music: a standard half-time show. They routine ends with girls in various positions: horizontal on the ground, legs crossed; kneeling back, head to the side; Anna is leaning on another girl, both of which have their leg held high in the air. The spotlights dim.

The pom squad exits the court as the pep band sets up to play age-old stand tunes. Justine is there to congratulate Anna. They chat when the band begins to play rather loudly and obnoxiously. So, the two go to they start to climb the bleachers. They sit in front of Christopher and Diana.

Justine sees somebody waving at her and looks down. Her head jerks to her right and back to the front. The person is walking up the bleacher steps. "Anna," she squeaks. Anna looks and there is her clone.

"They just won't give us a rest," Anna says, jumping off her seat. Justine catches Christopher's eye.

: : :

Justine catches my eye. I look forward and see Anna walking both beside Justine and up the steps, only the latter Anna is dressed in a mockery of the Sanguine's dress. I jump up and tell Diana, "I'll be right back. I'm going to restroom."

"Fine," she says, following my eyes. "I think Analiece has to go, too."

We part and I head over a section before jumping down the stairs two at a time.

: : :

Justine and Anna catch up with Anna's evil twin, grab her, and quickly take her under the stands.

"So, what's happenin', babes?" the clone asks, rather flatly. She is the mirror image of Anna, only her hair is blood red instead of fiery red.

Anna starts, "You're the evil clone of me. Whatever happens to you, happens to me, except if Justine here kills you."

Rather calm, the twin answers, "Well, you've got this down pat. Now, I would love to get rid of you civilly, but that's just not our style, Sanguine. We like to put on a show."

"Let's cut to the chase. Are you going to tell us your name or should we defeat you first?" Anna says, with extreme confidence.

"I am the Melancholy of Depression. And, yeah, I'm here to destroy you and everything, but what gets me down, beside my personality, is that fact that you killed my best friend, the Nuisance. She was one tasty girl. We were like this," she comments, showing her crossed fingers. "I bet you two are like that too. It's so depressing. Misery of Cinder!" she suddenly cries.

The Melancholy lights up with blue flame, which spreads out towards Justine and Anna. They jump back, but Justine falls to the ground, sweating. Anna touches her, but she's not burned, just overheated. Anna puts her hand on Justine's head, trying to remove the heat, but there's little transfer.

"Well, what do you know? The Inquirer is down for the count. She won't do very well killing me now, will she? Or are you going to kill us both?" the Melancholy taunts.

"Brightness of Cinder!" Anna yells, throwing flames at her adversary, who flares up and absorbs the fire.

"That was quite refreshing. A little chilly, though." The Melancholy half-smiles, but then frowns again, in a monotone, "Chemistry lesson for you: Sanguine. A rapid oxidation reaction, better know as fire, it at its optimum rate of reaction, it burns blue. Orange fire is an indication of insufficient oxygen."

"Lesson 2: Fire needs three things: oxygen, fuel, and heat," a voice comes from behind her.

: : :

"Protection of Mist!" I call, soaking the Melancholy. She crouches down, choking. "You see, when water is placed on fire, it both lowers the temperature with its high specific heat and it starves the fire of oxygen."

The Melancholy growls at me, but I grab her from behind by her arms, her body sizzling against mine. I look to Anna, who mouths a thank-you between coughing spurts. I throw her to the wall, about to water her out for good, when I hear a meek, "Wait."

This comes from the struggling Justine. "Allow me."

Anna, who's holding her up, remarks, "Nova, you're weak. You can't conjure up the energy to blast her into star dust."

"I don't need to blast her. Chris, hold her."

I grab her, still sizzling, and present her to Justine. She stumbles up to the Melancholy and whispers, "I can't understand how a person who looks so much like my best friend could be so ugly and so evil." She holds up her hand, but holds it, begging to slap the Melancholy.

"Do it hard." I hear Anna say, coming up on her.

"No."

"Please." At this, Anna holds Justine's other hand. Justine looks at the Melancholy, who smiles sheepishly at Justine. Justine slaps her hard, feeling Anna grip her hand tightly. Melancholy grits her teeth. She jumps up and kicks Justine in the gut, and I drop her. She runs off toward the bleachers. _People will see her! _Jessica's not here to mirage it!

But as the Melancholy is near the exit, a figure comes out and kicks her in the shoulder, and she falls over. Anna grabs her arm. The figure picks up the unconscious Melancholy and brings her to us. We are surprised by its form. It is humanoid, sort of. It is a woman, with fair skin, covered in a mask of feathers. Her arms have wing-like features and her legs are talons. "Do not fear, children," she says to us in an angelic voice, "I am Harpymon. Finish your quest, Inquirer." With that she lays the rousing Melancholy on the ground and bows away.

"Harpymon," I say to her, "where are you going?"

"My business here is done. We will meet again soon, I hope." With that, she turns and jumps onto the stands. Fearing that someone will see her, I run out. The game has started. I look up into the bleachers. There is no sight of her. I look around. The only people moving are Arielle and Analiece, still holding the doll. I duck back down before they can see me.

: : :

"Anna, take a deep breath." Justine instructs. She then sits on the Melancholy's stomach, grabbing her nose and mouth with one hand and pressing down on her sternum with the other. After one breathless gasp, the Melancholy disappears. Anna faints. Justine goes over to her, and tries to rouse her. "Anna!" she cries. Anna does not awake.

: : : 

I come over and look. Justine sitting over Anna and crying her name. She looks at me, "She's not breathing!"

"Get up," I instruct. I kneel beside Anna, leveling her head, and start to put my lips to hers for rescue breathing. Her lips sizzle the first time I try it, so I try again. "I can't do it. Her trauma has set off her power. If I try, steam will clog her trachea." Justine pushes me aside and begins to mimic my actions. She lifts herself, grabbing her lips, and I see that they're red. She goes back down, trying to revive Anna again.

Anna finally wheezes and gasps for air, but soon her breathing is regular and skin isn't scalding. She hugs Justine, weeping and saying, "Thank you." She then notices Justine moving her lips. Grabbing Justine's cheeks, she inspects Justine's lips. "Justine! What the…?"

"The trauma set off your powers." I tell her, and she looks at Justine aghast.

"You were gonna die! My lips will get better. I just need a cold drink."

Anna looks down on her friend, "Girl, we're gonna kill each other yet. Drinks're on me." They hug again. As we exit, she politely asks me to borrow a few bucks, which I lend to her graciously. I sit down by Diana. "Sorry, I saw some girl smoking under the stands, so I had to find an administrator."

"That's ironic. Stuart Dora just kicked out of the game because he was smoking under the visitors' bleachers," Diana tells me. I laugh.

: : :

Westwood ended up losing 44-62. The coaches blame the loss of star athlete Stuart Dora, but state that they supported the principal's decision to suspend Stuart. They didn't say they'd make the same decision, but rules are rules.

Diana's mom isn't too happy about the hardened cheese in her daughter's hair, so Diana has bath duty tonight. "Christopher, the next competition's in Atlanta, so we can't go."

"Is it on TV?"

"I think so, but it's on Fox, and we don't get that station."

"Come to my house and watch it. I'd already promised Daniel he could come watch it there." I roll my eyes.

"Okay, thanks, Christopher. Bye!"

"Bye." I wave to her as she closes the van door. I get one final glance of Analiece hugging the Hawkmon doll.

_"…He must watch the show, too… We don't get that station…"_

: : :

Justine sucks on ice on the way home. Her dad picks her and Anna up at the game and is driving them home.

"So, let me get this straight," Mr. Reyes starts, "at a sleepover with Anna, you burn your neck. You got to a game with Anna, you burn your lips. What is up with Anna and heat?"

"I'm just a red hot girl, Mr. Reyes." She says, smiling at Justine, who softly giggles.

Mr. Reyes sighs disapprovingly, "Tell me, how did you do it again?"

"Hot nacho cheese. Stuff stings. But I was really eager to get a taste of nacho." Anna muffles a laugh the best she can.

"She couldn't wait to get that first one in her mouth." Anna teases. Justine shoves her, grabbing another ice cube to suck on.

Mr. Reyes looks in his rear-view mirror at the bantering teens, sighs, and smiles. With his wife's job moving them all over the country, it was hard for Justine to make friends if they weren't in a single place for too long. He looks back to the road, thinking, _I hope Justine can survive it once more…_

: : :

A/N: Two-thirds done! If I continue to crank these out at one a day, I may just have found the perfect multivitamin. Or… uh… anyway, I hope to finish the series soon.

- Pyromania is not a crime. Burn… he he he he he. Wow, could that _be_ any lamer?


	7. The Unreal Evil

Dark Reflections: The Unreal Evil

by Creedogmon

edited by Godeerc VanDrey

Category: _Digimon_

Genre: Fantasy, Action/Adventure

Rating: PG-13 (It's not all rainbows and unicorns, if you know what I mean)

Language: English

Summery: Christopher baby-sits Virginia. They are visited.

A/N: I've started to notice, as I do each subsequent chapter, that the summaries begin to sound the same, so I put very little and the reader already knows what's going to happen. It makes it kind of convenient, but leaves no room for surprise.

* * *

Chapter 7: The Unreal Evil

_Six down_, I think as I enter my house after the basketball game. _Me, Matt, Phillip, Daniel, Justine, and Anna.___

I also want to think "three to go," but I fear that I should not. I could always hope that the previous one could be the last one. _But that may be hoping too much at one time._ I still pray that we would not be faced by yet another evil clone of ourselves. We always win, but I've still yet to figure out why they are even clones attacking us. Of course, I should first ask why I've been given supernatural powers from a place that a few short months ago, I believed only existed in on television.

_February, for example, only has 28 days._

At home, I am greeted by my cat, who rubs against my leg. Edgy, I almost call upon my power, but I back off. _Can never be too careful_, I think. As I get ready for bed, Katmondu takes his place at the foot of the bed. I might as well have a dog. _Well…_

: : :

"Sure, Mrs. Frend, I'd love to baby-sit Virginia."

I'm actually glad I get to baby-sit her. There's always the chance her evil twin will come after her and she won't be able to defend herself. I figure the more time I spend with her, the better. I write the information down to put into my calendar, seeing that I have mindlessly doodled the Crest of Innocence on the notepad.

: : :

Diana, in the privacy of her own room, strums mindless on her guitar, reading the newspaper lying flatly on her bed. She throws the local section away, onto the ground, which only contains the front page, picks up the sports, scans it with her eyes before flipping the page, and then lowers her brow.

"Westwood Must Replace Bleachers" the headline reads. Diana grabs a highlighter from her nightstand and marks a passage: "Fire damage to the bleachers was found. Police believe it may have been arson, but no indication of foul play was found. Other theories suggest that it may be linked to unauthorized smoking…"

Diana cuts this out of the paper and puts it atop another cutout, highlight newspaper article with a picture of a park on the front. Both are lying squarely on top of a straightened pack of notebook paper. She looks at Hawkmon, quietly sleeping on her dresser, then to a picture on her dresser. It is of her, Christopher VanDrey, and a few other kids at an amusement park on a band trip.

"Let me in…," she whispers. Her eyes scan her neat room and she sighs.

: : :

I ring the doorbell to the Frends' house, and Mrs. Frend answers the door. Virginia comes scrambling to grab my leg. "She been excited all day, Christopher," I'm told with a smile.

Mrs. Frend runs through the usual spiel, "There's food in the pantry and drinks in the refrigerator. I'll be home around nine. She's had her bath. Try to get her into be about seven-thirty or eight…" I know the drill and half-listen until she's out the door, still giving me instructions.

Virginia is a savior of many worlds. She has a great power within her to defeat even the vilest of demons. She can harness the power of the very sun that heats worlds millions of miles away from it and gives life to an entire planet. She wants to play tea party, so we do.

Tea party lasts about seven minutes, unless you don't count the last two minutes when Virginia looked outside and begins to formulate the thought in her head: "Let's go play outside!" So we do.

It's a nice spring day. Summer is only about a month away, and at three o'clock in the afternoon, the temperature is reaching for seventy-five degrees. Virginia runs around, playing with her ball, her plastic car, the flowers, the dirt, the sand, and a grasshopper, all in about the same twenty minutes. She has already decided that our next activity will be to run around her house until one of us collapses. After two laps, it's clear that I'm the most likely candidate. For lunch today, I had a thick sandwich, a handful of chips, a container of apple sauce, cookies, and a cup of milk. I understand that Virginia had six bites of macaroni and cheese, one and half carrot sticks, and six ounces of apple juice. She is nearly passing me by the fourth lap. Granted, I would have been three times as fast as she was when we started, but now, I'm being lapped by a person whose legs aren't even twelve inches long. I finally fall over on the front lawn on the fifth lap.

Virginia giggles and grabs my nose, then sits on me. In a nasally voice, I playfully ask her, "Do you ab mah nozh?"

Suddenly, I hear a blood-curdling scream. I pick Virginia, put her behind me, and look forward. Someone is running up. I can tell from the hair that it's a girl. It's Jessica. She all scratched up, sweaty, and running at breakneck speed. As she nears us, I see what she's running from: the Defender. The blue and white tiger is hot on her tail, and quickly catching up.

"Entrapment of Blizzard!" a harsh voice calls. A snowy blast reaches near Jessica, but melts away.

As Jessica comes within a few feet of me, the tiger pounces. I jump up and pull her out of the way. If I couldn't already tell from the behavior, the darker gray-blue color of the stripes and lusterless white fur told me that this wasn't my cat's Power Form. Quickly recovering from his pounce, he jumps toward us again.

"Protection of Mist!" I cry. The blast knocks him forward. "What happened?" I ask quickly, almost ordering.

"I had a vision. I saw him, the Assailant of… Wile, the vision said, attacking Virginia, so I came here. I met him on the way."

"That's strange. Why didn't he go after Katmondu? I wasn't even home to help him. I was afraid that Virginia here… Virginia!" I glance around.

"Kitty!" the sweet voice cries. My heart drops. She walking towards the tiger, hands outstretched. The Assailant kneels, muscles taunt for his next jump. Like a spring, he lunges forward. Before Virginia even starts to cry, he is knocked sideways by a blue blur, the Defender. He hisses and growls loudly, and the calls are returned. They attack, biting each other's necks. I realize that Katmondu has no idea that he's hurting himself, and it clearly confused by the pain.

"On three," I tell Jessica, who is dressed in her dark fuchsia-colored robes and I in my turquoise-colored ones.

"Protection of Mist!"

"Reality of Illusion!"

The twin blasts strike the darker Assailant, who dissolves after falling to a heap on the ground. Katmondu returns, his form gone. His fur is bloody, and he runs behind the Frends' house. His DigiDestinedness may have made him more loyal, but he is still not an iota wiser than a normal cat. We comfort the crying Virginia, who quickly calms down and is ready to play some more.

"So," a strange, womanly voice beckons, "if it isn't the beautiful, naïve Angel."

We jerk around and behold a glowing sphere. It is a putrid dark yellow. Inside, barely visible, is Virginia's clone. It is not fair to call her that. She looks like neither Virginia nor the Angel. She is the height of the Angel, but nothing more. He hair is limp and ash-colored. Her eyes are hollow and gray. Her dress is like the Angel's, but tattered and worn. Her skin is visibly rough, the very antithesis of Virginia.

Ready, Jessica and I stand off, protecting Virginia from herself. In a sinister and mockingly dull voice, it tells us, "Why, hello, I see you got rid of the Assailant. I can't say that I'm surprised. Anyway, I am the Advocate of Guile. Yes, the one my hero, Devimon, spoke of. He was like a father to me. Until you killed him." The Advocate gives us the evil eye, clearly infuriated. "Corruption of Sunlight…" she only breathes.

I brace myself, as does Jessica, but the attack is not sudden. Instead, the spherical capsule of the Advocate clouds up and begins to emit light bending waves, which turn smoky gray. It touches the pavement, which begins to crack. It touches the grass, which immediately withers. We put our defense auras up, again bracing ourselves. The smoke touches our auras. Mine splatters away and Jessica's fades. Surprised, we fall back and scoot back. Jessica screams. I see why: the attack is touching her leg. He foot falls to the side, as if her ankle was broken and the ankle itself is now torn and bloody. I pull her back. From the ground, I attack, but very little of the attack reaches the Advocate's shield. Just then Virginia walks forward into the gray. I get up to pull her away, but it's too late… or is it? Virginia's shield instinctively encases her, and the gray moves away from her.

The Angel begins to float towards the Advocate. The gleeful voice calls out, "Purity of Sunlight."

I try to get up, but my hands become mangled with excruciating pain when I reach forward. Holding them to my chest, I fall over, tears falling down my face. I can no more tell Virginia that her own attacks will hurt herself than I can Katmondu. I turn over to my side, trying to watch Virginia, too weak to talk.

She glows brightly. The sunlight pushes away the gray smoke. "Nice trick, Angel, but let's see you get by this! Corruption of Sunlight!" A wispy tail of glowing blackness reaches toward the Angel, before lunging forward, piercing Virginia's aura. I squint, watching the vine arch back like a snake before darting forward at Virginia's heart. I hear a sizzle and cringe.

I hear Virginia coughing up a storm. I don't want to watch, but I am helpless not to move. Virginia isn't coughing. The Advocate is. I can barely see because Virginia is glowing so brightly. Her aura finally shatters and a large form appears. It is not the small fairy-like angel. It is a tall, featureless feminine form. Huge, gold-tipped white wings are attached her back. The rest of her body practically glows with light, making the surface invisible. Long, honey colored hair reaches down to her knees. White eyes that could only be Virginia's grace her face.

"Purity of Sunlight," the voice chants, echoing, completely feminine, but much more mature the former Angel's child-like speech. Like in the DigiWorld, a blinding light appears, but this time, I feel lightheaded. I can almost swear that I don't feel my body anymore. There is a brief sizzling which I expect to be the Advocate's demise. An inexplicable joy fills me. I look for Jessica, but find myself without a neck to turn or eyes to see. But I can strongly sense Jessica, not with my aura, but with my mind. Though I cannot see, the presence around me is yellow. It turns a mystical shade of purple. The purple of the Sister. I have a vision, which I innately know I am sharing with Jessica and Virginia.

It is a field, but the grass is blurry. There is green for miles around, up to the horizon, which is pink and red in permanent dusk. I get the sense that I am seeing things from far above, because I see several figures on the ground, but they are almost indistinguishable. There are about a dozen of them, animals, I think. They seem to be in some formation. Something floating, an angel, very similar to form Virginia is in now, is surrounded by several circles of creatures.

I don't get to look at all of them. The vision ends quickly, and I find myself, lying on the lawn. I stretch, feeling wonderful. My muscles are relaxed, my breathing slow, and it's as if I'm just waking up after a long sleep. I test my heartbeat to make sure I'm still alive. _I am._ My heart is beating a slightly slower pace, but beating profoundly. Endorphins surge through my veins. When Katmondu comes up to me, injury free, rubbing against my side, I notice the slushy trail across his back along with the white streak. _One more thing to explain to Mom._ All the blood is gone from his fur. I notice that my hands are healed, as is Jessica's foot. Jessica is lying beside me, "Wow; that was the nicest-feeling vision I've ever had. They usually double my heartbeat and make my muscles sore. Quite refreshing change if I do say so myself." I see that she is still recovering from lethargy as she tells me this.

Virginia is giggling, running around in the grass. I grab her, looking for the glowing halo of hair or the glowing rings around her aquamarine pupils. They are absent. I feel her crest in a pocket. It is glowing brightly.

Mrs. Frend drives up in the driveway. "Hey, Christopher, did you have a good time?" I look around to Jessica. I shouldn't have friends over, world-saving to do or not. To my relief, I see her running behind the backyard out of the corner of my eye.

"We did a whole lot," I say, meaning our adventures, but hoping to mean the plethora of activities Virginia felt like doing today.

"Oh? Did Virginia give you your money's worth?"

"More than…" I joke.

"Jay-ah…" Virginia mumbles.

"Who's Jay-ah?"

"Jessica," I say, regretting it immediately.

Picking up Virginia, Mrs. Frend asks her, "Did Christopher have girls over?"

I almost faint when Virginia nods at her mom. "Yes?" Mrs. Frend says, laughing.

"We didn't. We played 'Who dat?' with the TV. Jessica Simpson was on."

"Oh, I see."

_Close call._

"What's going on down here?" Mrs. Frend asks, pulling Virginia's crest from her pocket, which Virginia immediately reaches for, and gets from her mother.

"Her necklace thing? We found it in her jewelry box. I guess it's one of those necklaces that absorb body heat. Virginia seems to have a lot of energy."

"That she does, though I'm not sure I remember it. Well, I guess she does get a lot of strange jewelry," she replies, accepting my "hypothesis," which of course is a lie.

Virginia waves good-bye to me, and for a moment, her eyes glow and the halo appears.

: : :

When I get home, my mom tells me I have a call from Jessica.

"How'd she get home so fast?" I wonder, aloud, misfortunately.

"Why is that?" I'm asked by Mom. _Uh-oh, think, Christopher!_

"She has volleyball practice on Saturdays."

: : :

"J.J.?"

"Yeah, Christopher, it's me." Jessica's voice comes through the line.

"What's up?"

"I'm the only one left."

I'd yet to figure that out, but I reply with a monotone, "Yeah?"

"Well, to say the least, I'm scared."

"You'll get by. Someone will be there."

Jessica sighs loudly, and her voice almost cracks, "How do I know?"

"Destiny," is the only thing all I can reply.

"I don't want to rely too much on that."

"Okay," I say, not accepting that, but continue nonetheless, "Did you notice that Virginia was able to defeat the Advocate by herself?"

"Since when do toddlers have evil sides?"

I mentally hit myself for not figuring that out yet, but reply with a joke, "Most parents would disagree with that statement."

She laughs, but is soon serious, "Remember that vision?"

"Not very well."

"Well, I do. Let me tell you about it. Angel in the middle. Like the one we saw Virginia turn into. Surrounded by several animals. Two of them were the Defender and the Patron."

"And the others?"

"In that first sort of triangle around the angel, the Defender, a fox… she-fox, and a… panther. There was something below the angel. I want to say a spider. There was also the Patron on the far side outside that, toward the slope of the hill. A dark blue nightingale and a red parrot side-by-side above the first circle. And above them, there was… oh, something, I don't remember. Well, anyway, on that outside circle, in sort of a triangle were the last three beasts: towards the north was a falcon. To west-southwest was a grizzly bear. And to the east-southeast was a rattlesnake. At least I think it was those animals."

"Twelve…"

"Yeah, twelve… Why?"

"There's nine Power DigiDestined and two Digimon DigiDestined. That's only eleven. Where's our twelfth ally?"

"You got me. I mean, who's to say… I just get the visions."

"Okay, bye."

"Bye, Christopher…"

"We don't get that station…" 

: : :

A/N: Duh-dada-dah! Dadada-dah! And so the clock ticks ever so much more. We've got two parts left, and four days till I go back to school. So much excitement, I can barely handle it! It makes me wonder if there is actually people who are waiting at the edge of their seats for the next part, or if it's just me.

(Sonriso) - Well, _I_ for one, am waiting at the edge of my seat. Who knows what Sonriso will say next after Creedog gets done with all his overdone intros, stories, and author's notes? Hey, vanity is not a sin!


	8. Shattered Mirror

Dark Reflections: Shattered Mirror

by Creedogmon

edited by Godeerc VanDrey

Category: _Digimon_

Genre: Fantasy, Action/Adventure

Rating: PG (The chapters vary in rating, but the overall fic is PG-13)

Language: English

Summery: One more left…

A/N: When I was looking through the original manuscript for this series, I noticed that I put in something that I hadn't put in this story yet. Because I find it tacky to put a big long author's note at the beginning of a chapter (sort of), I will do it in this one through a series of vignettes. Yes, I know I haven't told you what "it" is yet. You'll find out.

* * *

Chapter 8: Shattered Mirror 

Diana sits quietly in the library, reading the newspaper. Actually, she is scanning, going through the front page in about fifteen seconds. She flips the page twice and beings to scan again. Her eyes lock on, then widen.

Casually, but briskly, she removes the page from the stack, carelessly leaving the rest of the paper to float to the floor. She walks directly to the scanner, laying down the paper. Some of the edges are folded and others are hanging out from the lid, but Diana seems confident. Taking a floppy disk out of her pocket and inserting in to the bulky machine, the presses the button. Diana taps her foot in rapid motion, waiting for the machine to finish. She leaves the paper inside the machine and walks over to the computer, inserting the disk.

A blurry photo appears on the screen. She does a long series of clicking, zooming in on the middle of the picture and trying to clarify the picture as much as possible. Squinting, she stares at the photo. She touches one nearly indistinguishable face. She shakes her head. Then another, doing the same. She looks at the third. She tilts her head, as to try to see the turned-away face. But her eyes pop open. She quickly clicks another button, taking the disk out of the drive, and practically runs to the printer, where she pulls the paper out before it's quite done printing.

She opens her binder, which is spotlessly organized and lays the paper delicately on top, and walks out without saying a word.

: : :

James sits in the school library, working on math, when someone plops down beside him. He looks up, "Hey, Diana, what's up? Need help with the math homework?" He immediately finds his question odd. Diana is one of the smartest students in school, and though math is not her subject, she has an exception student tutor.

"No," She then drops down a sheet of paper. One it is a fuzzy newspaper photo with a face circled in red ink. James is silent. "James, it's you."

Looking around and whispering, "Yes," he finally mutters. "That's me."

Diana, also whispering, but in a matter-of-fact way, continues, "James, the funny thing is… you didn't disappear last month. You're also not wearing one of those weird necklaces like Matt and Phillip, who are the other two in this photo. And I'm sure they're not carrying any large stuffed animals in their backpacks."

"What?" James says, suddenly bombarded with deductive statements and a half-solved mystery. Diana points downward, under the table. James, bemused, looks under.

Diana's backpack is opened, and there's a large bird's head popping out from it, looking at James, very much alive. He pops up, "Is that a… digimon?"

"Yeah, is this?" Diana asks, pointing to the large, feathery creature in the photograph. James nods, leans over, and opens his own backpack. Under the table, Diana and Hawkmon are treated to the sight of Delcomon's salmon-colored face. James grabs the beak-like mouth before it can exclaim. James and Diana both rise from the table.

Diana starts, "What do you know?"

"A lot," James says in a final tone, but gets a straight face from Diana, "where do want me to start?"

: : :

Jessica sits on the bathroom floor of her house, eyes heavy, at forty-thirty in the morning, brushing broken pieces of glass from the floor. The light above the shower—the overhead light was too bright—casts a strange, eerie glow through the frosted, semi-transparent shower curtail. Out the window, the sun had yet to come up, but there was a barely visible glow on the eastern horizon.

_It's not my fault!_ The groggy Jessica sweeps up the last of the pieces and throws them in the trash. _I saw something in the mirror, and I tripped on the rug._ The only downside to Jessica's power was her vivid dreams. Luckily, she wasn't sleepwalking, but her dreams were too real. Many people claim their dreams are "so real," but Jessica couldn't help but feel different. She recently had a dream where she was standing in the middle of the deserts, mesas in distance. The only thing in sight was a long stretch of railroad tracks. As she walked, she could feel the individual grains of sand on her bare feet. She could feel the sweat going down her neck and the sun's rays on her face. When she looked up at the sun, it was too bright for her eyes, and her eyes actually hurt. Dreams didn't hurt. When she breathed, she felt the dry air. The air in Raytonville was usually moist in the springtime, reminding her of the DigiWorld.

_Jessica, sitting on a log in front of the fire, stares at Christopher. He writes in his journal, completely absorbed. He is several feet away, but she can almost read his scribblings. Well, his handwriting's not that great, but she can make out every curve as if it were right in front of her. Wishing she could see over his shoulder, a figure appears behind Christopher. It is of herself, a perfect Jessica replica, only her clothes are clean and her hair isn't unkempt. Christopher turns around and the mirage disappears. Wishing she were in her room, the room appears. Lying back on the log, she pretends she's in her bed. Visually, the bed realistically sinks in, but she can still feel the rough texture of the bark on her back. Opening her eyes, she looks back at Christopher's words. Now, they seem blurry, but her eyes return to focus after a minute._

: : :

Justine hasn't been sleeping well. She can't seem to conk out until four in the morning, and wakes up at six, not the least bit tired. In fact, she doesn't recall dreaming, only the daydreams she has in the late hours. She thinks that her afternoon naps help, but it still figures out to less than half the sleep she needs. She feels healthy, energized, and is able to concentrate on school. Not that this would be a problem anyway. Justine looks down at her math test. She knows how to do it, but a voice keeps telling her the answers. She finishes doing a problem. It doesn't come out the same as her clairvoyance tells her. She looks over the problem and realizes she switched a negative sign. She redoes it and it comes out the same answer. She does the next problem and doesn't check it when the voice and her calculations agree. She knows she is doing this, but doesn't like it. However, is she to get the answers wrong on purpose when she know that it's possible that she could have gotten a perfect score anyway? She looks down at her paper, "You missed number four," a voice not unlike her own tell her in her head, "you didn't expand the polynomial correctly." Letting her hand move by itself, she sees the mathematical formulas appear on the page. 

: : :

It's a humid day. Although Anna's hair is completely frizzled anyway, it bulks up even more when she goes outside for Physical Education. After the shower, it won't dry. Hiding in a corner, she runs her fingers through her hair, completely drying it. Walking out, she's greeted by Justine in the hall. "Hey," she says in her soft voice.

"Hey, Justine, what's happening?"

"I aced my math quiz today."

"We took it today. How you know you aced it… Justine! Did you…?"

"Not on purpose. But I got this voice in my head, telling me when I'm wrong. I can't just ask for information like you birthday or something." A brief pause, then, "August ninth. By the way, when did they start letting you use a hair dryer?"

"Uh…"

Justine turns her head, and they exchange glances.

Justine starts again with safe talk; "It's hot out there."

"It's getting cooler."

"No, it's not."

"You just can't sense it."

"And you can?" Justine's question is returned with a look from Anna, and her clairvoyance kicks in, "You can sense heat and humidity change now?"

"Anna!" calls a girl, walking up behind them, interrupting Justine's thoughts. "See you at pom practice,"

"Oh, you'd better believe it, girl! It's booty-shaking time!" Anna grins.

Her friend smiles politely, toned down, "Hi, Justine."

Justine responds uncomfortably, "Hey."

"Justine, you're always there at the end of the practice. You know what you need to do? Show up while we're practicing and tell us what you think of the routine or something."

Justine, shooting a look at Anna, caught off guard by the extrovert, replies, "Sure, that'd be great."

"See you there," the girl turns and leaves.

"Confidence…" Anna sings.

"I know…" Justine replies in a similar tone of voice.

: : :

Matt was never a weight lifter. He didn't care about getting big muscles or being good in sports. He, however, found himself spotting for Daniel in the weight room this particular day. Daniel was athletic, but didn't need to be working as hard as he was today. He was trying really hard, visibly sweating, teeth clenched. Matt smiles at the sight. Daniel, finally fully extends his arms up, and comments, "What's so funny? This isn't easy."

"I'm sorry, man, it just looks weird from up here." Neither notice that Daniel's arms are relaxed, but the weights stay in the air. "I'd like to see you try." Matt grabs the weights, puts them on the holders, and switches places. "Ooh, slippery," he jokes, wiggling on the wet backrest. Putting his hands around the bar, Daniel helps him to put the bar down at this chest. Matt immediately feels the full weight of the bar when Daniel lets go.

"Here, man, let me help," Daniel offers, but the bar swiftly comes up. Almost without effort, Matt extends his arms fully. Amazed, he relaxes and the bar starts to fall as swiftly as it came up. Daniel grabs it and holds it in place. Matt, curious, suddenly lets go, but keeps eye contact with Daniel. The bar doesn't move downward as Daniel keeps his grip on it, holding it unknowingly with a single hand. When Daniel realizes this as Matt scoots out from under the bench, he lets go and it falls. The two quickly put it back into place.

They leave quickly and quietly, both staring in awe at their open palms.

: : :

Phillip woke up last night at midnight, hungry. He'd done that a lot the past few days, almost being able to smell the food in the kitchen. He got out of his bed, walked downstairs in pitch darkness, even avoiding his brother's skateboard, and got a snack. He froze when he heard his parents shifting in their bed, but started again when he realized they hadn't gotten out of bed, in their bedroom, on the other side of the house.

Today, Phillip, for once, is excited about biology. Today, his class is going on a field trip to the zoo. Not only that, but they're going into the laboratory to meet some of the new arrivals. Some of them are a group of seven monkeys, which the class finds hilarious.

"Yes, we're very excited. These are all capuchin monkeys," a zoologist tells the class, referring to the dark, small monkeys. "Unfortunately, we're going to have to put one to sleep. He's too aggressive."

"Which one?" a girl asks.

"That one. We're not sure why."

Out of the blue, Phillip speaks, nearing the monkey, "He's terrified. He looks young. Where's his mother?"

"We thought this older female was."

"He doesn't look too happy about her being around."

"Well, there's no explanation. And please, don't go to close. He's liable to bite."

Phillip is too slow to back up. The monkey jumps and lands on Phillip's shoulder. Phillip is startled, but the monkey crawls behind his neck and start to jump and screech, but settles down quickly, grabbing Phillip's head is a sort of hug. The zoologist takes it off Phillip with a leather glove and sets it down at arm's length. It immediately walks over to the rest of the group and starts wrestling playfully.

"Strange…" the zoologist, remarks.

"I guess he was just scared. He just needed to know we weren't going to hurt him." Phillip comments, in an almost knowing sort of way, but glad his words were conjecturing.

: : :

Mrs. VanDrey was somewhat worried about the family cat. Katmondu had spent all morning running around, wrestling his catnip mouse. But come noon, the cat suddenly stopped dead in his track to nap in front of a window. She dismissed this as normal cat behavior, but couldn't dismiss him lying down in ice. Mrs. VanDrey had gone to a brunch that morning, taking the drinks in a cooler. When she emptied in on the lawn, she soon found Katmondu frolicking in the melting pile.

Katmondu sat smugly on the ice. It felt good, especially in this high heat, which made him tired. He hears something. The slightest sound, but he picks up on it. He scans the driveway, piece by piece. The wind rustled the leaves of a fern, but it's not the right sound. Little by little, he picks up each individual sound when… _there! Small animal! _He jets away from the ice pile, the ice crystals falling to the ground, melting, and evaporating. He listens intently, moving his ears. _Plant rustling, plant rustling, running animal! _He pounces and blindly grabs a baby rabbit, which gets away and runs across the street. Katmondu scans again for sounds, but the rabbit is gone.

: : :

Mrs. Frend is equally worried. Virginia had spent all day outside. She never seemed to tire out. Even when she got scared that Virginia would sunburn or get heat stroke and brought her in, she insisted on sitting in the window. It wasn't cloudy all day, even though the weatherman had predicted partial cloudiness, they never came. When Mr. Frend came home that night and switched on the weather channel, it showed the cloud cover making an awkward turn northward as it neared eastern Georgia.

"The strange move of the cloud was probably due to upper atmospheric winds over Atlanta…"

Virginia didn't take a nap that day, but nearly collapsed with sleep at around seven-thirty in Mrs. Frend's lap while watching the sunset.

: : :

I am glad for the shady trees on this hot, nearly summer day. Waiting for my mom, I sit down on the concrete benches provided in front of the school. I rub my arms, bored. They feel warm. I would think that they were sunburned, and I wouldn't be surprised, since I forgot to put sun block, but my arms are nicely tanned. I get up to move to another bench. There were ants on mine. As I sit down, I realize I didn't actually _see_ the ants. I'd felt them in my aura. _Strange._

I look down at my watch. _Mom's late_, I think. I pull out my water bottle, but only take a small sip before cringing. The water's warm and I'm not the least bit thirsty. In fact, my skin is moist, but I assume that's my aura. For some reason, I get to thinking about how fish absorb water through their scales instead of drinking it.

A girl walks past me and into the parking lot across the street. It was Catherine Yell, who's not exactly my friend, so I disregard her, but feel weird about. I realize why. I didn't sense her as she walked past. I turn around, looking for Jessica, but she's not there. I close my eyes and try to feel farther.

_The roof_, I think, and sure enough, there is Jessica, standing on the roof. Knowing this isn't the Sister's typical behavior, I materialize my blue-green protection aura. Just then Jessica walks out, waving and smiling. Her smile disappears when she sees me in Caretaker mode. I create a dome around her.

"Delirium of Illusion!" the Jessica-clone calls, blasting Jessica forward, our combined defense auras disappearing. Jessica floats back up, dressed in her robes as I am.

She floats down to us, landing gracefully on her feet, "So, I'm the last of the True Force. That's what we like to call ourselves. The parts of you all you don't like to think about. The Sinners, the Mundane, the True Selves."

Jessica and I are silent. I realized it's my duty to kill this one. _Why are they all so chatty?_

"I'm the Rival of Deceit. It has a nice ring to it, don't you think? Anyway, I know it's an outdated motive, but I'm here to avenge my brother's death."

"Who, ironically, was the Avenger." I comment.

"Yes, blasted idiot. He was the first one, right? What he have to avenge? I mean, we didn't get along. I'm too competitive. So's he. We made a great pair," she comments sarcastically. "So, where was I? Oh, yes, avenging my brother's death. You killed him."

"No, I didn't." Jessica says.

"You profaned it. You made it look like a bloody sparring match! It didn't even look like him! I made the Saboteur promise to avenge it for me, and, typical of him, he failed. I don't think you even realize what you're doing."

"Defeating evil clones of ourselves?" I say.

The Rival laughs, "No, you're killing yourselves. Yes, you could go on about all that mumbo-jumbo about it being the evil parts of yourselves, but you have to realize that those parts are still there. All you've accomplished by 'killing' them is hurting yourselves."

"Funny, I fell fine." Jessica rebukes.

Flatly, the Rival answers her, "Then why does the Caretaker have scars? The same with the Magistrate and the Patron and the Champion. The Inquirer's neck is burnt. The Sanguine's chest hurts when she breathes. The Defender looks like he went through a fight, which he did."

Jessica's face stays stern, but I can see she's backing down. "J.J., she's right. We're not quite in perfect health. But remember our powers heal us. Plus, even if they are the bad side of us, they'll kill us anyway. I think that's worth a stash to the hip."

: : :

There is a large flash, blinding the figures temporarily. When the flash subsides, the Sister is gone, but the Caretaker remains. "Ooh, magic tricks," the Rival taunts, "I like those."

She falls off the roof. Jessica smiles, "Funny thing is… you can also mirage, but you can't undo my mirages."

"And you can't undo my actions." The Rival grabs Christopher, ready to snap his neck. "Your Brother dies at the swipe of my hand."

"Oh, really?" Justine says confidently, but her smile gone.

"I guess you lose then." With a quick snap, the Caretaker falls to the ground. Jessica, in fury, jumps down. "Whoops, did I do that?" the Rival sarcastically says, with a fake frown. "Well, I'm all done avenging my Brother's death. I guess one more heartless Avenger could die. Come at me, Sister."

"You know," Jessica starts, her teeth clenched, "you seem so superior for someone who hasn't master miraging as well as I have." The Rival tilts her head, unaffected. "I bet you didn't know that could create sounds, too?" Her voice continues, but her lips cease to move, "Did you?"

"Last night, I started to recreate the feeling of matter in illusions." A cat brushes up again the Rival's leg, meowing. The Rival kicks forward at the cat, and it disappears like a smoky shadow. "In fact, I might even be able to bring the Caretaker back to life."

"I bet she could," the Caretaker says from the ground. He suddenly erects himself and pops his neck back into place.

"Impossible!" the Rival hisses. The Caretaker removes his sword and pierces the body of the Rival, who is unaffected.

"Another mirage…" the Rival smiles as the Caretaker disappears. "You're wrong then. You can't bring him back to life. You're not Jesus and he ain't Lazarus."

Suddenly, a hand goes across the Rival's neck.

: : :

My hand around the Rival's neck, I whisper in her ear. "You're right about some things. Her, not Jesus. Me, not Lazarus. But, me, dead? You just shattered a mirror. My blade comes out from her sternum, and I see Jessica double over, one hand over her mouth, the other over her chest. The Rival falls to the ground, blood dripping from her mouth. Her head hits the pavement, and the blood pools around her head before disappearing, with the rest of her body, and from my rapier.

The Caretaker gone, and Christopher back, I go to Jessica. I touch her sternum through her shirt. I feel a scar there, but no blood. I even sense for it with my power, but it's not there. I roll her over, looking around, realizing Jessica can no longer control her power, but we're alone. The violet tress hangs over her eye and I hug her. She finally hugs back.

"I guess we won…" she whispers.

"I guess we did…" I answer.

She moans. "Vision… big one…"

And things disappear in a purple haze.

: : :

A/N: And we have one more part to go. This has been the longest chapter yet. I'm definitely getting more able to expand these fics. The third one will be amazing, assuming I don't give up on it like last time. Don't worry. It only took me two years to start over! Give me two more years, and you'll get an even better first two parts! I'm not that reassuring, am I?

(Sonriso) - He can't finish! There's so much more that needs to go into this series. You've left too many ends not tied up! And all the planning you go through! Plus, I'm not going to get the chance to make sarcastic or corny comment about Digimon if you don't! It's your duty, Creedog! Oh well.


	9. Secret of the Twins

Dark Reflections: Secret of the Twins

by Creedogmon

edited by Godeerc VanDrey

Category: _Digimon_

Genre: Fantasy, Action/Adventure

Rating: G (yes, this one's very tame)

Language: English

Summery: In a vision, Christopher and Jessica learn about the origins of the of certain DigiDestined digimon.

A/N: You know those episodes of your favorite shows that go back several years? Just curious.

* * *

Chapter 9: Secret of the Twins 

I have the strangest feeling of floating. A purple haze, completely opaque, surrounds me on all sides, like a cloud. And like a cloud, there is a break. The clouds split, revealing the landscape below: a picturesque, lush, green valley. I can see all this from about fifty feet above, and my body moves forward. I look to my left and see Jessica also suspended in midair, watching the hills go by.

"Well, welcome to the DigiWorld again," a squeaky, old voice tells us, "sorry for the abrupt trip, but we couldn't exactly call."

I recognize the voice, "Gennai?"

"Oh, yes, I forgot. You're familiar with the DigiWorld, Christopher. Yes, my name is Gennai."

The voice continues, "You'll have to excuse me, but I haven't been doing this long. I wanted to give a full tour to you all, but it seems to me that I'm not quite experienced enough to pull you all in and show you all that I'd like to. But it turns out I'll be able to narrate the fantastic story of the Twins."

I look over to Jessica, who shares my bemused expression. _The Twins?_

On the horizon, a building, an enormous factory, comes into view. The sky grays as the day fades into evening. Our bodies descent and we continue to float a foot above the ground as we pass through the door, ghostlike.

"Well, you see," in a perfectly tourist guide voice, Gennai continues, "here is the Centre. We're getting ready."

"For what?" I'm forced to ask.

"Oh, you'll see," he says, as we pause in a rather large room with lusterless gray walls and huge pieces of alien machinery.

A large door swings open, and, anticlimactically, in walks a small digimon, red and frog-shapes, pulling a sort of austere treasure chest with a wagon. It is Elecmon, keeper of the baby digimon.

A robed figure, apparently human, takes the wagon from the digimon, who walks aside him.

"Thank you, Elecmon. How did you choose them?" 

The animal replies, "I've started keeping record of their origins. I can't quite say what they're going to be, but I know they're going to special."

"Of course they are. Destiny forbids that they won't be."

Elecmon nods and smiles.

I find myself unnoticed, realizing that we're being treated to a sort of inside flashback glimpse. "When is this?"

"Oh, I stopped keeping track of time awhile back. I'd expect this happened a few years ago."

The human, if that's what he is, takes Elecmon to a strange machine. It looks like an industrial ice machine, but the top extends to the ceiling and it has a large up-swinging door, which is yellow and glassy.

"Gennai, what's the report?" the robed figure says to another.

Without turning away from a machine with knobs, he answers, "Seiji, The crests have been digitalized into the world. The digivices should materialize them."

The older Gennia, our narrator, tells us, "We needed a new set of DigiDestined."

"Why?"

"Because of an evil. There is more to the story, but you will learn it in time. I fear losing the connection if I go into it."

Seiji opens the case. It holds twelve digieggs, three by four in a row, held in a foam-like material. Each one is decorated differently. I walk up to the case, unnoticed. Seiji picks up on in the corner. It has red shield-shaped markings on it.

"That one is very powerful." Elecmon says. I'm amused he would know such things.

Seiji opens the yellow glass door and gently lays the egg inside. He does the same, going across the top row: one with golden crosses on it and one with a gray-green spiral going down the height of it. With the third egg, a loud noise breaks the solemn tone of the ceremony. Panicked, Seiji slams down the door and grabs a small box. He throws it in the chamber with the eggs; it rattles. "Elecmon, take the eggs and run as fast as you can through the back exit." Gennai tells him, pressing a button. "Clear!" he shouts.

Seiji backs away from the machine, and a yellow column engulfs it. Meanwhile, Elecmon runs through the back door with the wagon in tow. A door suddenly is thrown from its hinges hitting the back of a machine, leaving a large dent. A black form floats in like fog. It strikes forward like a snake, wrapping around Seiji tightly.

A voice from nowhere speaks, "Open the chamber."

"Can't; it's already locked. It's now absorbing energy from the planet-source right now. It will someday send the eggs and digivices to real world."

The grip of the black tentacle tightens on Seiji, who doesn't react.

"All the eggs are not in there. It looks like the Unmon Coalition once again screwed up." it replies.

"Wrong." says the young Gennai, reappearing. Suddenly, an electrical blast shocks the black cloud, letting go of Seiji. It withers, and an Angemon drops to the ground, motionless.

"Looks like you're gonna have to find a new host. And you're locked out of the DigiWorld." says Gennai confidently.

"Yes, but the eggs are being scattered across the continent. That's just like you. What good are DigiDestined without Digimion?"

"You ought to read a prophecy every once in a while."

The black cloud then dissipates. Gennai falls over. Seiji jumps over to support him. Gennai's hood falls off, revealing graying hair and shallow wrinkles on his face.

"Gennai, you know that the thing ages you when you are weak."

: : :

The factory disappears and we are brought to a hilly field.

"So that's why you're so old."

"Yes." he says sadly.

"Mister… Gennai, is it? What's going on?"

"We were preparing to bring in a set of DigiDestined to counter that thing."

"It got messed up," Jessica says, childishly.

"To say the least," the chuckle coming back into his voice. "But enough of that for now. It's time you learned about the Twin Digimon."

The sun sets again, and I watch two DigiEggs hatch on the hill. The first one is covered in blue-green crescents, which is shattered by a tiny Pitimon. The baby digimon is shaped somewhat like an up-side-down water droplet: his tail pointed and his head round. He has two fingerless extremities on each side and large brown eyes. He is almost white, but tinted slightly blue. The other egg is covered in pink arcs. Another Pitimon emerges from it, only with a more purplish tint. The two bounce around each other merrily, occasionally bouncing off each other, landing on their backs, and giggling gaily.

The sun rapidly sets and emerges seconds later, dramatically slowing down to show the changed creatures. They are now Bukamon. They have dragon-like heads with flame-like crests on their foreheads, two flippers for forearms, and a pointed tail. Again, they look similar, but with slightly different shades of skin. They are still playing.

When the sun rapidly sets and rises, they Twins have changed. Now, they are different species. One is a small panther cub, with black fur, brown eyes, and a bluish crescent on his forehead, facing downward. The other is a fox pup, with gold-tan fur, green eyes, and a pink almond shape on her forehead. However, they retain a certain resemblance in their shape.

The sun sets, and pauses before rising. When it does, neither digimon can be seen. The grass is now very tall. The field has changed to the plains outside of a forest. "What happened to…?" I turn to ask Gennai, whose presence I'd almost forgotten. He holds his hand up and points.

In the distance, I see the grass moving on a line, as something moves through it. As it nears, I see two distinct lines. I exchange glances with Jessica, who too notices the high speed of whatever things are moving through the grass. We note their direction, towards us. As it turns out, they appear out of the grass not far from us. First comes a bronze-colored blur, which as it passes, we note is a racing fox, but unlike the one from the "day" before, is fully grown and what I perceive to be female: a vixen. Shortly after her is a large black panther. He seems to be chasing her, which is odd if they are the older, _or digivolved_, I think, forms of the two digimon who were playing, not to mention allies for a set of DigiDestined.

Gennai, after much silence speaks, "The two Rookie digimon you saw were Kiomon and Jeamon. The panther cub and the fox pup, respectively."

The fox reaches the edge of a lake, skidding to a stop, looks both ways at the wide expanse, and finally jumps in and starts swimming. The panther, without a moment's hesitation, jumps straight from his run into the lake and swims furiously.

"These two are Aneramon and Tobalmon."

The panther quickly catches up the fox and passes her, crawling out of the lake, and shaking off, sending water everywhere.

We float over the pond. The panther speaks, "Beat 'cha, Annie."

The fox crawls out, and starts to lick her small paws, softly growls, "Toby…" she mocks.

The panther shakes furiously, sending more water at the fox, who jumps back, almost falling in the lake. "Hey, watch it!" she growls, but composes herself, shaking with small, rapid movements, "Besides, I left you in the dust."

"Until you ran out of dust. You've got to digivolve into something with bigger paws."

This alerts me to something. Around each of Aneramon's sleek, canine legs is a small golden bracelet. I also see the similar double-convex on her forehead. Tobalmon has a golden collar around his neck and a gold cap on the tip of his tail.

"The Twins grew up the best of friends, but problems arose."

The sun sets again, and it stays night for a long time. "Aneramon started having visions. In them, she heard voices, telling her about a great evil in the world. It threatened a very sacred shrine and she felt called to protect it," I hear a lot of stirring in the grass and an occasional growl. "Tobalmon, however, had no dreams and no visions. He knew of the evil digimon that inhabited this world, and he felt it was his job to protect it. They both finally realized that Destiny was calling them in different directions. So they parted."

The sun rises and the two beasts face the coming light, but unlike before, they are solemnly still instead of lively. Tobalmon looks back at Aneramon with a sad look, but continues to walk forward. Aneramon is very still, but quivers. She suddenly turns and runs into the distance, somewhat haphazardly, without grace, often her eyes tightly shut.

With the two digimon out of sight, the sun began to move rapidly, not stopping on the next day, just repeated sunrise and sunsets. Almost as if he were narrating it, Gennai continued, "And time passes. Aneramon continued to have visions. In a vision, she was told that she would have to form the Outer Triad of three digimon, which together would be unstoppable. For the three of them would have a very sacred task."

Jessica asks, "Did she?"

Gennai sighs, "I'm afraid I do not know. I have read many legends of her finding them, but I have yet to confirm it."

"And Tobalmon?" I ask.

"Tobalmon, who has received no visions, merely survived. It is said that he traversed across the DigiWorld, hoping to find answers to his Sister's quest. I know even less of him."

The opaque, purple clouds start to surround us again. "Gennai, what's going on?"

"The vision is ending," he tells us. "Worry not; for soon, all will be revealed to you, and to all of you…"

I don't appreciate the cryptic phrase, and I fear that there nothing Jessica or I can do. Not surprisingly, the school yard returns and I see my mom drive up. I say goodbye to Jessica, who is quiet.

I realize something. We've defeated all nine of our evil twins, and what's the reward? An incomplete explanation of what was destined to happen? There was something problematic about the vision. Gennai seemed strained for time. He knew very little of the present time. I feel that large pieces are still missing from the puzzle. This is not the end. This is not even close. With our powers back, there is something wrong, terribly wrong, and we know very little of it.

Frankly, this scares me. I watch Jessica stand in the front yard of the school, deep in thought. I read her expression; she feels what I do: foreboding.

Too far away to be the end… –Creedogmon

: : :

A/N: This is worse than how _The Matrix Reloaded _ended, almost. If you have felt a sense of closure after this chapter, you're not reading hard enough. A good story is supposed to end with an absolute abyss. This is cliff face. The third part will soon come.

(Sonriso) - Ack! The end of a book! So much pressure to do well! All I can say is, um, yay!


End file.
